The Fight Against Seattle's Regrade Taxes
Property owners on South Twelfth and South Fourteenth streets take the city to court to block land seizures over controversial street-grading assessments.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Amended complaints were filed in the superior court yesterday in the cases of George Haisch and William Cline against the city of Seattle. These suits, brought by property owners on South Twelfth and South Fourteenth streets, seek to restrain City Treasurer Adolph Krug from selling their property for delinquent grade taxes. Restraining orders were initially granted, but temporary injunctions were later denied. Undeterred, the property owners raised funds to continue the fight. They allege the grading was improperly done, city council ordinances for the work were illegal, required petitions were never properly signed, and the terms of payment were changed without consent.
“The plaintiffs claim that the grading was never done in a proper manner, and hence there is no benefit.”
Local Improvement Districts (LIDs) and regrade assessments were common points of friction in Seattle’s early growth, illustrating the tension between massive civic infrastructure projects and the displacement of property owners who could not pay the tax burden they created.
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